Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to ensure that the NHS has not discriminated against (a) BAME, (b) elderly (c) other patients with protected characteristics in its provision of treatment during the covid-19 outbreak.

We are taking seriously the initial findings from the Public Health England report on disparities in the risk and outcomes from COVID-19. We have publicly set out the work that will be taken forward by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Equalities (Kemi Badenoch MP) in light of those findings.

The National Health Service is committed to tackling discrimination. All NHS providers must comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty, which requires them to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination when carrying out their activities. The NHS Standard Contract also places requirements on NHS providers on equity of access, equality and non-discrimination.

Throughout the response to COVID-19, NHS England has engaged regularly with a variety of stakeholders including the Health and Wellbeing Alliance, whose members have an understanding of, and provide regular feedback on the needs of different communities.